Red Porgy, Pagrus pagrus

Red Porgy, Pagrus pagrus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, June 2023. Length: 18 cm (7.1 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.

Red Porgy, Pagrus pagrus. Fish caught from coastal waters off the Canary Islands, Spain, June 2012. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

Red Porgy, Pagrus pagrus. Fish caught from shore in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, March 2018. Length: 25 cm (10 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Kenneth Tse, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Red Porgy, Pagrus pagrus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Deerfield Beach, Florida, December 2020. Length: 27 cm (11 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, California.

The Red Porgy, Pagrus pagrus, is a member of the Porgy or Sparidae Family, that are also known as the Common Seabream and in Mexico as sargo rojo. Globally, there are six species in the genus Pagrus, of which one species, this species, is found in Mexican waters, and in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Red Porgy is characterized by a moderately deep oblong compressed body with a depth that is 39% to 43% of standard length, with a rounded upper head profile that is slightly steeper in front of the eyes. Their eyes are not high on the head. They have reddish-pink bodies with silvery tones with indistinct yellow spots on each scale on the upper half of the body that transition to lighter colors ventrally. They have a dark bar that runs through the eye and ends at the corner of the mouth. Juvenile fish are covered with fine blue dots on their upper sides. The sexes are dimorphic with different colored mouths, snouts and foreheads. Their caudal fin is dark pink with white tips. Their small mouth opens at the front and has large canine teeth at the front if each jaw, four on the upper jaw and six on the lower jaw, followed by smaller, blunt canine-like teeth that transition to molar like teeth toward the rear of the jaw. They have 14 to 18 gill rakers. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 8 or 9 rays with a short base, their caudal fin is forked, their dorsal fin has 12 spines and 9 to 12 rays and is low; and, their pectoral fins are long being much longer than the pelvic fins. Their body is covered with small scales.

The Red Porgy is found over rock, rubble and sand bottoms at depths up to 250 m (820 feet); juveniles are found on seagrass beds. Adults have a high site fidelity. They reach a maximum of 91 cm (3 feet 0 inches) in length and 7.7 kg (17 lbs) in weight. They consume crustaceans, fish and mollusks. They are a late maturing protogynous hermaphrodite species with each fish starting out as a female and then changing to male mid-life at an average age of four to six years and 30 cm (12 inches). They have life spans of seventeen years. The Red Porgy is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Red Porgy is one of the numerous similar appearing porgies found in Mexican waters of the Atlantic. However, from the shape of the forehead (rounded and not steep) they can be easily separated from several others, with the exception of the Longspine Porgy, Stenotomus caprinus (elongated third dorsal spine), and the Sheepshead Porgy, Calamus penna (10 or 11 anal fin rays) an easy fish to identify and cannot be easily confused with any other species.

The Red Porgy is a resident of Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean but has a limited distribution being found along the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico.

From a conservation perspective the Red Porgy is currently considered to be of Least Concern; however, in some parts of their range they are heavily targeted by both commercial fishermen utilizing hook and line, traps and trawl, and recreational fishermen utilizing hook and line, and thus overfished with significant population declines. They are also caught as a by-catch of the Red Grouper, Atlantic Red Snapper and Vermilion Snapper fisheries. Their populations are also being adversely affected by the recent introduction of the Red Lionfish, Pterois volitans, which competes for prey and space. They are considered to be an excellent food fish being marketed fresh and frozen but are known to contain ciguatera toxin. In the coastal waters of the Southeast United States they are heavily regulated. They have been successfully raised by aquaculture in the Mediterranean Sea.